The Lazarus Problem
by BrutalNightmare
Summary: The Illusive Man needs to deal with Shepard and co. post game.
1. Chapter 1

_Note: Based on the overheard conversation in the Crew Quarters. Takes place after ME2. I don't own a damn thing. It's all Bioware. Yes, I know I am a sick SOB. R and R please._

_Warning: Contains Bad Junk. M for a reason._

The Illusive Man sat and quietly raged, cigarette in one hand, tumbler of scotch in the other. He had good reason to be mad. Yes, Shepard had succeeded beyond all expectations against the Collectors, having successfully infiltrated the Omega 4 relay, boarded their base, rescued the abducted Cerberus crew, and escaped, all without losing a single team member. The problem was what happened as a result. All of the personnel in the Lazarus cell now worshiped Shepard, due to their rescue from a grim fate. Shepard had acted rashly, destroying the Collector's base, and refusing the Illusive Man's direct orders to the contrary. Even Miranda, the closest person the Illusive Man had to a second in command, had thrown her lot in with Shepard.

At first, he had thought this was only an act, that a check-in message explaining Miranda's reasoning would be soon forthcoming. So he waited. And waited. Nothing. He had received no reports from anyone within Lazarus cell since the Normandy had returned through the relay. EDI had ceased her automatic updates, Miranda had remained silent, and not a single other member of the crew had contacted him.

He brought a cigarette up to his lips and took a long pull. His hand shook slightly.

They had succumbed to Shepard's influence, each and every one of them. Like a cancer, the man had a way of infecting the minds of people around him until they would follow him without question unto the depths of hell. It was called charisma, and it made Shepard a very dangerous man.

It wasn't surprising that Shepard had decided to go his own way. From the very first conversation the Illusive Man had with him, Shepard had made it abundantly clear that he didn't give two shits in the wind about Cerberus. Shepard had used Cerberus, just as the Illusive Man had used Shepard. That was why he had assigned Miranda to Shepard's command: to monitor him, assist him, control him, and if necessary, neutralize him. The problem was that it had apparently backfired. Miranda was nearly indispensible to the organization. She had access to almost everything. She knew the location of key Cerberus facilities and operatives. She was hyper-intelligent, resourceful, and the closest person the illusive man came to trusting. And she was a traitor.

A drink from the scotch. It was very, very smooth. 2002 Glenfiddich. Priceless. A gift from Miranda. He had been saving it for a special occasion, but he had never needed a drink quite so badly. The truth was... the Illusive Man felt more betrayed then he should have. Miranda... was special. More so to him than she should have been. A lesson for the future. Trust was a liability he could no longer afford.

He wasn't yet completely blind to the goings on of the Normandy. It had had innumerable tracking devices, failsafes, and self-destructs installed at one time, but ever since the Salarian and the Quarian had come aboard they had worked tirelessly to locate and remove them. He could still monitor the navigation data though. Shepard and his band of traitors had set course for the Citadel. He no doubt meant to hand over the ship to the Alliance, or the Council, who would proceed to systematically extract every bit of data concerning Cerberus from the ship, EDI, and the crew. The traitors would reveal everything Shepard told them to. Cerberus would be doomed.

The Illusive Man had one last card to play. He didn't want to, but it was his only option. Humanity needed Cerberus. They had needed Shepard too, for a time, but now his usefulness was at an end.

He tasked his omni-tool to call the one operative aboard Normandy who would be guaranteed to still co-operate.

After several minutes, a projection of Crewman Harvey Rolston appeared, showing him to be in the crew quarters, which were otherwise unoccupied. Good.

"Harvey..." The Illusive Man began, but Rolston cut him off.

"Illusive Man. I know what you want, and you can forget it. The entire crew is with Shepard now. He is our best chance against the reapers, and he is loyal to us. So whatever scheme you want me to help you with, you can shove it up your ass." Rolston said. He normally didn't talk this way, and it showed. He was nervous.

"Harvey, what an unkind thing to say. You know I've only ever had your best interests at heart. That's why I evacuated your family from New Canton. Surely you haven't forgotten." _That_ got Rolston's attention. The Illusive Man grinned inwardly: this would be easier than he had thought.

"No, I haven't forgotten. Thank you. But you have to understand; Shepard is our commander now. He knows what he's doing. We all trust him. You should too."

"I wish I could Harvey. But he's stolen my property, my personnel, and my information. Things that are vital to humanity in the long run. Do you seriously expect me to let Shepard hand over everything that we all have worked so hard for to the Council? To _Aliens_? You know I won't let him do that Harvey."

"Shepard is done taking orders from you, and so am I. You set us up when we boarded that Collector ship. You would have sacrificed all of us. If it hadn't have been for Shepard and the Aliens on the team, we would all be dead on the Collector base. Whatever you want from me, I'm not doing it." Rolston reached for a control to kill the feed, but the Illusive Man's next words stopped him cold.

"Harvey, I believe your wife would strongly advise you to listen to what I have to say."

"My wife? She's back on Earth. She has no idea about Cerberus." Rolston's eyes betrayed his words. He knew what would be coming next, but he didn't want to believe it.

The Illusive Man sighed, and gestured over his shoulder. Two operatives entered, all but dragging a handcuffed Alice Rolston with them. Alice held baby Emily in her arms. Emily was crying, and Alice was shouting.

"I don't know who you people are or what you want, but let us go this instant, or I swear I'll..._oomph!_" She was cut off midsentence by one of the operatives punching her in the midsection.

"Oh my god, ALICE! Emily!"Shock registered in Rolston's voice, but quickly turned to rage as he turned to look at the Illusive Man.

"If you so much as touch my family I'll..."

The Illusive Man cut him off. "Don't threaten me Harvey. Just... don't... Now listen. I trust I have your complete attention." One of the operatives held a hand over Alice's mouth, and the other pried away Emily from her grasp, and handed the baby to the Illusive Man. The Illusive Man put out his cigarette, and began to slowly rock Emily back and forth as he continued speaking. With effort, Harvey tore his gaze away from his wife, and back to the Illusive Man.

"Now Harvey, this is what you are going to do," The Illusive Man began, as he held Emily. "You will eradicate the AI core of the Normandy with explosives. You will kill Operative Lawson. And, you will kill Commander Shepard. You will kill anyone who stands in your way. You will most likely die following these actions at the hands of the crew, but if you do not obey these instructions, then you will most certainly die, along with your charming wife Alice, and darling Emily, in a most unpleasant way."

Harvey sat in silent disbelief for a minute, exchanging pleading looks with Alice. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision.

"Bullshit." Harvey said. "You're not a monster. You're trying to protect humanity. To protect innocents. You won't harm innocents. You won't hurt my family. Please don't hurt my family. You know what's right." There was a look shared between the husband and wife that seemed to say 'Everything is going to be all right.'

It wasn't. The Illusive Man sighed again. Emily burped quietly. He patted her back. Alice shot him a look of pure malice.

"Unfortunately Harvey, I knew you'd say that. It's part of human nature, part of what were fighting to protect. That tragic innocence: people refuse to believe that others will not do everything necessary to protect humanity. They believe that people have limits. But we don't. I don't. And I'm going to have to prove that to you Harvey, so that you know that I'm serious. So that you will have no limits when you carry out this assignment. Once a person is pushed past a certain point, once their broken, they can do anything. So, I'm sorry for what I have to do." The Illusive Man Gestured towards Alice.

Realization dawned on Harvey as the two operatives hauled his wife forward, and forced her to the ground. "No!" He said.

"At least you can still save your daughter." The Illusive Man said flatly.

The one held her in place on the floor, while the other started to remove her clothes. "No!" Harvey shouted.

Alice's top, and bra were cut off with a knife. She flailed and kicked and screamed. It was no use. "No! Please God No!" Harvey screamed. "Alice!" He kept screaming.

Emily began to cry again. The Illusive Man held her and shushed her, while watching the two operatives. Alice was naked now, and crying. Her daughter's cries came to her attention, and she began to say "It's allright Emy, everything's gonna be okay. Don't worry about Mommy."

One of the operatives pulled out a grenade from his pocket. Harvey's screams were a hoarse croaking sound now, incapable of speech.

The first operative, a female, sat on top of Alice and spread her ass cheeks apart. The second set the grenade for remote detonation, calmly taking his time. He licked the fingers of his right hand, and shoved them brutally into Alice's asshole, slowly pushing his hand in, until his entire fist was buried. She screamed. He then slowly withdrew his right hand, while inserting the grenade with his left into the newly stretched hole. When the grenade was fully inside, he fisted her again, pushing it deeper into her colon, then withdrew his hand.

The female operative grabbed Alice, and dragged her roughly to the edge of the room, while the male adjusted the camera on the holo-feed to Harvey to watch. The Illusive man transferred the hysterical baby to one hand, placing the other on the grenade's detonator. The device was of a low yield, and Alice's body would stop the force of the explosion from causing any harm to himself, or the operatives. It was a shame, he thought, to waste such a beautiful body, but Harvey needed this lesson.

Alice turned to look at Harvey. "I Love you." She sobbed out.

The Illusive man detonated the device.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ten Minutes Later_

Harvey Rolston was no longer sane. At least, not if the definition of sanity was rationality. He stalks the corridors on the crew deck as if lost in a trance, which in effect, he is. He walks through the mess hall. Someone calls his name, he doesn't turn to acknowledge. He enters sickbay. Chakwas smiles and asks if anything is troubling him. He has lost the ability to form human speech, and grunts in reply. He notices that the windows looking out to the mess can be opaqued by a control on the desk. He walks over and hits the control. The viewports fade to black.

Chakwas looks at him with a puzzled expression, and repeats her earlier question. He looks at the door to the AI core. The security guard is not present. Maybe he's inside, talking with the Geth. Harvey remembers that the sickbay is soundproof. That's good. Chakwas has risen from her chair, and is in the process of scanning Harvey's vitals with her omni-tool. She'll have to be the first to go.

He realizes that he didn't bring a gun. He only has a grenade. A grenade. Something about the grenade bothers him. He tries to remember what, but his memory locks down and he can't. Oh well. He'll have to throw it directly into the AI core. The hatch is locked. It has a biometric reader on it. Only the guard and officers have access. He looks at Chakwas. Ship's medical officer Chakwas. That'll do. In an instant he seizes her empty chair and swings wildly at her. The chair connects with her chin, and she goes down.

He doesn't give her a chance to get up, and keeps swinging, over and over again at the prone figure. Finally, he notices her neck is at an unnatural angle. He ceases, and releases the chair. After a moment, Harvey drags the body by the hair over to the scanner on the hatch. It reads skin DNA samples, so he sticks the Doctor's limp hand over the reader. It blinks green, and the hatch opens.

Legion and Crewman Dallas are inside. Before the hatch is fully open, Harvey hurls the grenade in, and slaps the emergency shut on the hatch. It closes, and seconds later, a dull _whump_ sound issues from within. The lights dim, and a siren starts its piercing wail. Shepard's voice filters over the comm, demanding a report. Harvey exits sickbay at a brisk walk, and heads across the mess towards Lawson's office, ignoring the frantic scramble of the crew around him. He is nearly about to enter, before remembering that Miranda is biotic. He'd need a gun. Towards the bow of the ship is gunnery control, the Turian's post. He'd have an arms locker inside. You could always count on Turians to be armed. Harvey alters his course, and turns towards the bow.


End file.
